The second St Ayles to be built in England will be launched on Thursday 31st May, and all followers of Scottish Coastal Rowing are warmly invited to take part.

The skiff is being built at St Michaels Church in Byker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by two teams of community boat builders.  One team is made up of  teenagers  (YMCA Newcastle) and the second group are adults recovering from  alcohol / substance abuse (Norcare and Tyne Housing). The whole build was commissioned by Newcastle’s Science City community science team.  The building of the skiff has therefore been a real community effort, and the plan is to use her as a community resource, racing on the Tyne and travelling to various coastal events, helping to reintroduce coastal rowing to the region.

The launch party will leave at 10am from St Michael’s Church Byker, Hedlam St (NE6 2DX), walking the boat down to St Peters Marina for the launch. At 11am the skiff will be lowered into the water with opportunities to  take a turn on an oar.

Your Homes Newcastle have kindly donated some authentic Byker paint  and the oars are being varnished. The skiff will spend 2 hours on the  water from 11am to 1pm on Thursday 31st, then back up to the Church  for some sandwiches and a mug of coffee / tea around 1.30-2pm, where  you can try your hand at some traditional woodworking. So come along and witness what a creative community can achieve by  sharing skills and utilising their natural surroundings.

If you intend to come back to the Church  afterwards please let Alex Finnegan of puppetship CNC know, so that he can arrange numbers for food and beverages:

Alex Finnegan PuppetShip CIC 07971 407 586 http://www.puppetship.com/